Gaza Herald – Hazem Qassem, spokesperson for Hamas, stated on Tuesday that the movement and other Palestinian factions have engaged positively and with flexibility in the proposals presented by mediators during recent meetings held in Cairo regarding mechanisms for ending the war in Gaza and managing the next phase.
Qassem said that consultations involving mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey yielded approaches considered acceptable to the various parties.
He called on mediators and guarantor states to exert pressure on Israel to halt the violations of the ceasefire agreement, which came into effect in October of last year, and to comply with its obligations under the deal.
According to Qassem, implementing any political framework to end the war requires completing the remaining provisions of the agreement’s first phase, stopping ongoing violations, and addressing proposals related to the second phase in a manner that preserves the ceasefire process.
He added that Israeli violations of the agreement have resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect.
Qassem stressed that responsibility now lies with Israel, as well as the Gaza Peace Council, represented by its Executive Director, Nikolay Mladenov, to move forward with implementing the proposed understandings.
Last month, Mladenov presented a UN-backed roadmap consisting of 15 points aimed at implementing an agreement to end the war. The proposal includes several political and security arrangements related to the future governance of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, however, has criticized positions taken by the Gaza Peace Council’s executive director, accusing him of contributing to Israeli escalation and calling on him to adhere to the ceasefire framework without introducing new conditions or complications.
The U.S.-backed plan for ending the war reportedly includes provisions concerning post-war governance in Gaza and the formation of an international stabilization force. Palestinian resistance factions have repeatedly stated that they reject any proposal involving the disarmament of resistance groups before a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
